Is this the end of the asset
finance arms of HBOS and Lloyds TSB as we know it?
Sweeping changes are taking
place at the former asset finance arms of HBOS and Lloyds TSB, with
the announcement of several high-profile departures from the
newly-created Lloyds Banking Group (LBG).
Go deeper with GlobalData
And it certainly seems that
managers from the former Lloyds TSB, which ended up the reluctant
rescuer of HBOS thanks to the personal intervention of prime
minister Gordon Brown, are winning out over their HBOS
counterparts.
The first to go was veteran asset
finance figure Lindsay Town who, after many years at the helm of
HBOS’s leasing business and 34 years in the industry, will enter
early retirement in April this year.
A spokesman for Bank of Scotland
explained the move as a “personal decision” for Town.
David Oldfield will take the reins
at the asset and motor finance division of LBG, with Town to act as
a transition adviser until his retirement.
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By GlobalDataNext came the news that Jon Walden,
a runner up for ‘lifetime achievement’ at Leasing Life’s
asset finance awards in December last year, will step down at the
end of March from running the former HBOS lessor Lex, the UK’s
largest fleet provider. He had held this position for a decade.
Recent media rumours that Lex was
to be sold off have been firmly rebutted by LBG – as one leasing
industry expert commented, “who on earth would have the funds to
buy it?” – and the bank has announced Lex’s operations are to be
merged with those of Lloyds TSB’s fleet unit Autolease.
Lloyds man Nigel Stead will take
the reins at the combined entity, which will have over 370,000
units on its books.
However, whether HBOS’s commercial
vehicle leasing company Hill Hire will stay within the banking
group is more doubtful.
Speculation has mounted that LBG is
likely to consider exiting from commercial vehicle leasing.
Unlike HBOS, Lloyds didn’t have a
specialist CV leasing business (with Autolease focused on cars and
vans), so potential synergies and cost-savings are less evident
than in the Lex-Autolease case.
Hill Hire’s head Andy Mitchell said
it was “very much business as normal”, while a spokesperson for LBG
declined to comment.
The asset finance industry is awash
with rumours that the new management of Lloyds Banking Group’s
asset finance division will be heavily weighted in favour of former
Lloyds TSB men, with HBOS representatives to be no more than a
“token” presence, one source said.
A spokesman for LBG declined to
comment on the composition of the new asset finance board.
All activities that previously fell
under the banner of ‘commercial banking’ for both organisations are
to be subsumed into an overarching ‘wholesale’ division.
Truett Tate, an American who joined
Lloyds TSB in 2003, will become the new executive director of
wholesale and international banking.
But given the departure of two
well-known HBOS asset finance figures, it seems the rumours could
well hold more than a grain of truth.
